Paula R.C. Readman's Blog, page 88

Bring tears to your eyes.

A story I wrote years ago, still has the power to bring tears to my eyes. I think it has more to do with when I wrote the story and its subject matter.

The Meetings tells the tale from the point of view of a park keeper and what he witnessed in the park as he worked through the seasons. There are two people he sees day after day.

Of course, there is more to the story. I wrote the tale not long after my father passed away. Which might be the reason this story is so dear to me. I sent it off to a magazine called ‘People’s Friend’ and received great feedback but they wanted me to make changes as they felt the park keeper read like he was a stalker.

Of course I tried to rewrite it taking in their comments, but it was rejected by them. They said it had lost its sparkle. I returned it to its original storyline and entered it into a competition where it became an overall winner.

As I sit here editing ‘The Meetings’ ready for its inclusion into my single collection it can still bring tears to my eyes.

Have you written a story that still moves you even after many years have passed?

Have a great day

Paula R.C.

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Getting Closer

What’s on my mind!
Well, I’ve just sent my MS back to the publisher after a final read through. I can almost touch the cover of the first book with my name on it.
I’m so excited. A little sad it isn’t ‘Stone Angels’ but it is a crime novella. My chosen genre rather than romance which I was so nearly tempted to write in the hope of be published. I’m just so glad I was true to myself. When I first started writing I thought long and hard about the sorts of books I wanted to write. I knew that most publishers want you to stick to writing one genre once you’ve built a readership. As I enjoyed reading books that have a mystery at its heart, I knew crime would be my first choice. I’m not into blood and gore, but mostly psychological crimes novels. The ones that explain why a crime was committed appealed to me most. So these are the sort of stories I enjoy writing.

Of course, you will find I like to put a twist in my writing too. I tend to sit down and really work through my plot ideas. Checking and rechecking the storyline in hope to create something different.

I have an Amazon author’s page if you would like to check out anthologies which has my stories published in, or to add me to your reading list for when my novella is available.

Now I’m ready to start work on editing my single collection. I haven’t got many mistakes in the thirteen tales that need sorting, but I wanted a clear head before starting work. So all the other writing projects I had hoped to finish are going to be set aside for now. If the deadlines haven’t passed. I may come back to them

Have a great weekend,

Catch up soon.

Paula R. C.

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The Funeral Birds

After six years of sitting on my computer an entry I wrote for a BBC short story competition as grown wings and taken flight. The Funeral Birds didn’t come anywhere in the competition, even though I fell in love with the characters.

The story had a dark sense of humour to it, and an element of the supernatural in the tale, too. Of course the story had to be worked on before I sent it to the publisher. I needed to increase the word count, which meant working on the storyline, too.

Over the six years, I was pleased to see that my writing and editing skills have improved. Rejection does refine your skills.

Today, I can share with you the book cover the publisher has sent me.

The ebook comes out finished then it will be followed by the paperback.

I will, of course, post the link when it becomes available.

Happy Writing,

Paula R.C.

[image error]The Funeral Birds: Out Soon

Tell us something about yourself!

Such a simple question to answer, but it always throws me. Where do I begin?
I have been asked by a publisher to answers 8 to 10 questions out of a list of twelve.
Simple right. Just choose the most interesting, and the ones you have a good idea of what you could say. But the problem is it is the first one, which always has me stumped.

Tell us a little about yourself?
What do you want to know? My age? Where I was born? Family history? What I have done for a living? These answers seems quite boring. Would others be that interested in me as a person?
I’m not anyone outstanding. I haven’t done anything amazing. Just a ‘run of the mill’ sort of life.
For the last three days I’ve been editing, rewriting and deleting my answers. I manage to find online other writers who’ve answered the same sorts of questions. Most seem to start with their name and age.
Hi, I’m Paula. I’m more years older than I can imagine. Where has that time gone. Anyway, I started writing as a challenge to myself etc…

That’s my challenge for today. To turn the mundane into something inspiring.
Have a great day,

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Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,

Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,

Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,

Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,

Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,

Pause for Thought

When you finally reach the point where you’re about to get your work published, the publisher will want to know more about you.

This for me is the difficult part. Having to talk about yourself and make it interesting for others. As someone who isn’t comfortable being in the limelight, I’m finding it hard to come up with an interesting angle.

Having left school with no qualifications, and spent all my work life in factories, I don’t see that as being relevant to my writing or of interest.

I suppose that’s where being a celebrity makes it so much easier for publishers to market your writing. Being a celebrity has given you a selling point.

But what if you’re just a nobody. What selling point do I have?

When I set myself a challenge back in 1998 I didn’t even think about how I was going to market myself, all I was focusing on was the writing.

I have to master the skills needed to write well enough to be published, to build my confidence.

I guess all I can do is write down everything that comes to mind and see if I can edit into something vaguely interesting.

Oh,